Australian Rugby Development Centre

This was announced at the game tonight. Hopefully it doesn't go the way of Howard's Ballymore funding.

Australian Rugby Union today announced it will develop a world-class training facility and community sporting hub in Sydney, following a $20 million funding commitment from the Federal Coalition and the NSW State Government.

The facility – to be known as ‘Australian Rugby Development Centre’ – will be located at TG Millner Field, Marsfield, in Sydney’s North West.

TG Millner Field will be transformed into a high performance sport centre and training facility for Australia’s national Rugby teams including the Qantas Wallabies and will act as the Olympic base for Australia’s Men’s and Women’s Sevens teams

Hmm can we sing their praises or highlight the fact that other codes have been leveraging federal funding for similar projects for years now, at a much greater level not to mention.. Both the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Brisbane Lions have announced new 'training facilities' to be built with $16million federal funding in the past few weeks.

Other club teams to source federal funding for training facility upgrades in recent years:

For the record i think the project's fantastic, but it just highlights another area the ARU has failed comparitively in recent years, the other codes have been able to leverage hundreds of $million in funding for either capital upgrades or grass root development projects and the most rugby has been able to do is secure $1million for Olympic 7's funding, which to be fair was a result of the IRB's actions rather then the ARU's.

FFA has been leading the way in tapping into government funding through various projects and schemes, the AFL has been using federal funding to build new facilities for all its clubs and it seems the NRL has picked up its game and has started to do both of these better as well.

I guess the ARU should be applauded for squeezing some pork barrelling.

Any Federal sports development money in Rugby spent west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and not within the grounds of a Private School or University, is to be applauded no matter how politically motivated it is.

Both TA and JH are rugger buggers, although many will note their Sydney Private School and Sydney Uni connections may do little to separate them from the heavy hitting rugby underworld figures that [USER=5977]Inside Shoulder[/USER] appears to have upset.

Good to see how much money that the Drug Cheating sports that have rivers of gold flowing their way from massive FTA contracts have acquired from the Federal government. NOT.

Also very happy to see that Souths rabbits have $16m upgrade to their training facilities. I hope that this is for the future facility that is being proposed for them that a snout tells me will be build in Heffron Park Maroubra in 2017. It would be particularly tragic of this $13m was being spent to upgrade their facilities only to have them move to Maroubra in 2017 to a new facility.

Also very happy to see that Souths rabbits have $16m upgrade to their training facilities. I hope that this is for the future facility that is being proposed for them that a snout tells me will be build in Heffron Park Maroubra in 2017. It would be particularly tragic of this $13m was being spent to upgrade their facilities only to have them move to Maroubra in 2017 to a new facility.

I should have specified that the $16million allocation to Souths is for their new Maroubra training facility.

But it makes you wonder how a NRL clubs receives a 60% larger grant from the federal government then the peak Rugby Union body does.

Although thrilled rugby is (finally) getting a few, well-deserved dollars from the public purse, I can't help thinking Ballymore would've been a better choice. Having spent six years in Brisbane from 1976 to 1982 when Ballymore was at its peak as THE rugby spot in Brisbane, followed by too many visits to Millner as a junior parent, Pirates supporter and referee/TJ there's no doubt in my mind Ballymore has more to offer as a rugby development centre. It's significantly bigger for starters, with tons of space to add buildings, gyms, car parks, etc. And it's got a lot more potential to develop friendly public transport access than Eastwood'll ever have. Suggestion: build a specialised bus terminal adjacent to the old Finsbury grounds across the creek. Eastwood's out of the way for most of Sydney as well as a considerable distance from public transport. AFAIK, its only advantage is it's the only ground in Sydney owned by the rugby family associated with the attached club. For those of you who don't know, Eastwood Rugby doesn't own Millner, Vimiera Recreation Grounds Limited was set up to hold the ground after it was gifted to Eastwood by Colonel Millner in 1950; VRG's directors are all Eastwood rugby men.

Particularly when that mungo club who is receiving $16m federal money is supported by a poker machine superclub like Souths Juniors that exists to separate those who can least afford it from their money.

Why can't Rusty chuck a few more $ their way. It is not as if he is short a bob or two, unlike the Feds.

Particularly when that mungo club who is receiving $16m federal money is supported by a poker machine superclub like Souths Juniors that exists to separate those who can least afford it from their money.

How much of that $16 mill do you think is going to the pommy bloke who tackles guys by the testicles?

And [USER=1539]Lindommer[/USER], do you think the QLD govt had a part in ballymore losing out? Would they have funded this kind of development? (asking because I seriously know nothing about QLD politics)

How much of that $16 mill do you think is going to the pommy bloke who tackles guys by the testicles?

And [USER=1539]Lindommer[/USER], do you think the QLD govt had a part in ballymore losing out? Would they have funded this kind of development? (asking because I seriously know nothing about QLD politics)

They likely would have, whether to the tune of $10millions is debatable, the offered $4million back in 2007. The problem with Ballymore is that it sits in the Federal MP electorate of Brisbane and the local residents surrounding Ballymore are known as rather vocal NIMBY's(Not In My Back Yard). All in all it probably wouldn't serve as a very good pork barreling investment..

Although thrilled rugby is (finally) getting a few, well-deserved dollars from the public purse, I can't help thinking Ballymore would've been a better choice. Having spent six years in Brisbane from 1976 to 1982 when Ballymore was at its peak as THE rugby spot in Brisbane, followed by too many visits to Millner as a junior parent, Pirates supporter and referee/TJ there's no doubt in my mind Ballymore has more to offer as a rugby development centre. It's significantly bigger for starters, with tons of space to add buildings, gyms, car parks, etc. And it's got a lot more potential to develop friendly public transport access than Eastwood've ever have. Suggestion: build a specialised bus terminal adjacent to the old Finsbury grounds across the creek. Eastwood's out of the way for most of Sydney as well as a considerable distance from public transport. AFAIK, its only advantage is it's the only ground in Sydney owned by the rugby family associated with the attached club. For those of you who don't know, Eastwood Rugby doesn't own Millner, Vimiera Recreational Grounds was set up to hold the ground after it was gifted to Eastwood by Colonel Millner in 1950; VRG's directors are all Eastwood rugby men.

A handout? Eastwood owns the land, they are entitled to sell it. That's not a handout, that's a commercial transaction.

We will never know the financial details, but I think you can assume that the price paid to Eastwood would be significantly less than they could get on the open market, a discounted price to reflect the value that the Club will get from being able to remain there in perpetuity.

Penrith got some pretty good handouts a few years ago, they had a very competitive team captained by Peter Besseling, and featuring half a dozen other Soup standard players. I imagine the hope was that subsidising the club might lead to some community involvement. If the community does not want to support the game, in cash and in kind, then unfortunately the game will not be there for the community. Harsh, but that's the way it is.